Consensus on key provisions of land bill may evolve today

With the government keen on buying peace over the land bill, a parliamentary panel examining it on Monday will try to evolve a consensus on three key provisions, including the one on return of unutilised land to its owners after five years.

With the government keen on buying peace over the land bill, a parliamentary panel examining it on Monday will try to evolve a consensus on three key provisions, including the one on return of unutilised land to its owners after five years.

The panel has already arrived at a unanimous agreement on six key issues, including bringing back the consent clause and social impact assessment, in the proposed law and now aims at finalising its view on three other issues at the August 10 meeting.

It plans to submit the report the very next day, sources in the committee said.

The government has also expressed readiness to accept the recommendations of the committee, which has restored some dropped provisions of the UPA law, but insisted it was not a climb down as it was always open to changes on which there was a consensus.

The issues that will be on the table for the 30-member joint committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP SS Ahluwalia include the provision on returning unutilised land, time period for retrospective application for compensation under the new law and period of review.

Under UPA’s land Act of 2013, the land acquired but not utilised for five years had to be returned to the original owners or the land bank.

The NDA bill, however, provided for return of the unutilised land after either five years or any period specified at the time of setting up of a project, whichever was later.